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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The chapel of Saint Martin, located in Oltingue in the Haut-Rhin, is the former mother church of the village and three other hamlets today disappeared (Huttingue, Fislis and Lutter). Its construction started in the 14th century, with elements dated by dendrochronology between 1380 and 1386 for the wooden lintels of the tower. The large work and the partially walled arched bays date back to this period or the 2nd half of the 13th century. The building was originally the parish church until 1830, before being replaced by another place of worship.

Major changes were made in the 17th and 18th centuries: the sacristy was added at the end of the 17th or early 18th century, while the vault of the choir, replaced by a ceiling in 1685(?), was decorated in 1741 with paintings depicting the Sacrifice of Melchizedech and the Supper. A restoration campaign in 1869, led by Mulhousian architect Joseph Langenstein, transformed the building deeply: the addition of neo-Gothic bays, a porch, a neo-Gothic vault in the choir, and the suppression of the painted ceiling and the stand. The works were received in 1872.

Archaeological excavations in 1989 revealed medieval murals in the choir and Carolingian remains in the nave, attesting to an earlier religious occupation. These discoveries, coupled with the graves exhumed, confirm the central role of this site as a necropolis and place of worship since the early Middle Ages. Ranked a historical monument in 1991, the chapel now belongs to the town of Oltingue and is distinguished by its mixture of Gothic, Baroque and Neo-Gothic elements.

The building is characterized by its east-west orientation, with a tower-chœur flanked by a sacristy to the north. Inside, there is a credence niche and a wall tabernacle in the south wall of the choir, as well as partially obstructed broken arched bays. The paintings of the eighteenth century, although missing during the restorations of the nineteenth century, testify to its rich past decor. The chapel, located auf der Au a few hundred meters from the village, dominates a cemetery that perpetuates its memorial function.

Its history reflects architectural and liturgical developments in Alsace, marked by medieval construction phases, Baroque adaptations, and then a typical 19th century neo-Gothic renovation. The 1991 classification underlines its heritage value, both as a religious building and as a trace of the missing villages (Huttingue, Fislis, Lutter) of which it was the spiritual centre.

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